A prior art dough divider of this type is disclosed in SE-B-323,341. This dough divider comprises a dough hopper at the lower end of which there is provided a dough chamber which, as the dough is being divided, is kept apart from the rest of the hopper by means of a reciprocating dough knife. The dough chamber contains a dough feeding plunger which on its forward stroke forces the dough from the dough chamber into a measuring chamber. The volume of the measuring chamber is controlled by a counter-plunger which also serves as dough discharging means. When the measuring chamber has been filled, it is moved relative to the dough chamber such that the measured dough piece(s) can be pressed by means of the counter-plunger out of the measuring chamber to a receiving station in the form of a conveyor belt. In the dough divider according to SE-B-323,341, the measuring chamber is divided into a number of sub-chambers, thereby producing a number of dough pieces during each cycle of operation. In other prior art, similar dough dividers there is but one measuring chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 871,650 (F. Streich, Nov. 19, 1907) discloses a further example of a similar, prior art type of dough divider. This comprises dough feeding rollers at the lower end of the hopper for feeding the dough down to a dough chamber. The dough chamber is not separated from the hopper during the forward movement of the dough feeding plunger to press the dough into the measuring chamber(s). A compression spring is inserted between the dough feeding plunger and an operating lever which is pivotable back and forth, and there is a lost motion connection between the plunger and the operating lever. The operating lever always performs a full rearward stroke during each cycle of operation, i.e. it always moves as far away from the measuring chamber(s) as is possible during each cycle. If the dough should stop the dough feeding plunger on its forward stroke, i.e. in the direction of the measuring chamber(s), the compression spring will, however, permit a relative motion between the operating lever and the plunger by being compressed as much as the lost motion mechanism allows. By this arrangement and by the dough divider according to this patent specification having a permanently open communication between the hopper and the dough chamber, the dough will be subjected to powerful working during the entire cycle of operation, also in case the forward movement of the dough feeding plunger in the direction of the measuring chamber(s) occurs through the intermediary of the spring between the operating lever and the plunger, the spring being compressed as the operating lever moves towards its right extreme position, when the dough has completely filled the measuring chamber and therefore stops the movement of the plunger. The lost motion mechanism allows this relative motion between the operating lever and the plunger. The working of the dough in the dough chamber in this prior art dough divider leads to overworking which in most cases results in deterioration of the baking properties of the dough and variations in weight and volume of the measured dough pieces.
In the dough divider according to U.S. Pat. No. 871,650, the compression spring between the dough feeding plunger and the operating lever which is pivotable back and forth is merely single-acting in that it is compressed only when the dough stops the forward movement of the plunger in the direction of the measuring chamber(s). This means that in this known dough divider, maximum filling of the dough chamber always takes place, which further increases the tendency to overworking of the dough in the dough chamber, since this always contains more dough than the measuring chamber(s) will hold, if the movement of the dough feeding plunger is stopped on the forward stroke thereof.
A similar dough divider is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,408,679, in which there is also a lost motion connection in the train between the driving motor and the dough feeding plunger.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,757,099 (F. Streich, May 6, 1930) discloses a dough divider whose dough chamber is separated from the hopper during the movement of the dough feeding plunger in the direction of the measuring chamber(s). In this design, the dough is subjected to powerful working in the dough chamber, especially when measuring small pieces of dough. This also applies to the dough divider according to U.S. Pat. No. 1,559,805 (F. Streich, Nov. 3, 1925).
These and similar prior art dough dividers have been successfully used in bakeries, although they have in some cases produced dough pieces, the weight and volume of which have varied from piece to piece. In certain types of dough, this variation has been more pronounced than in other types.